This intense smoke is four years old. It was 7:06 p.m. on March 13, 2013 when this white smoke announced that the Catholic Church had a new pope.

However, it was more than an hour later before his name was known. During that time, thousands of people tried to enter St. Peter’s Square and reserve a space to greet the new pope at his first appearance.

At 8:12 p.m., Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran announced the news.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, from then on known as Francis, went out to the balcony with a serene, but excited face.

«You know that it was the duty of the Conclave to give Rome a Bishop. It seems that my brother Cardinals have gone to the ends of the Earth to get one… but here we are…”

So, just as the conclave closed with the surprise of a lesser known candidate, thus began a pontificate of surprises, which is still changing the world.

1. Life of sanctity

They observe the precepts of their Messiah with much care, living justly and soberly as the Lord their God commanded them. Every morning and every hour they give thanks and praise to God for His loving-kindnesses toward them; and for their food and their drink they offer thanksgiving to Him. (Aristides, Apology, II c.)

Such, O King, is the commandment of the law of the Christians, and such is their manner of life. As men who know God, they ask from Him petitions which are fitting for Him to grant and for them to receive. And thus they employ their whole lifetime. And since they know the loving-kindnesses of God toward them, behold! for their sake the glorious things which are in the world flow forth to view. And verily, they are those who found the truth when they went about and made search for it; and from what we considered, we learned that they alone come near to a knowledge of the truth. (Aristides, Apology, II c.)

2. Dedicated to others

They appeal to those who injure them, and try to win them as friends; they are eager to do good to their enemies; they are gentle and easy to be entreated; they abstain from all unlawful conversation and from all impurity; they despise not the widow, nor oppress the orphan; and he that has, gives ungrudgingly for the maintenance of him who has not. And when they see a stranger, they take him in to their homes and rejoice over him as a very brother; for they do not call them brethren after the flesh, but brethren after the spirit and in God.

And whenever one of their poor passes from the world, each one of them according to his ability gives heed to him and carefully sees to his burial. And if they hear that one of their number is imprisoned or afflicted on account of the name of Christ, all of them anxiously minister to his necessity, and if it is possible to redeem him they set him free. And if there is among them any that is poor and needy, and if they have no spare food, they fast two or three days in order to supply to the needy their lack of food.
(Aristides, Apology, II c.)

3. Citizens of earth and heaven

“For, we have not here a lasting city: but we seek one that is to come.” (Heb 13:14)

“They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers.

They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. (2 Cor 10:3) They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven.(Phil 3:20) They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. (2 Cor 6:9) They are poor, yet make many rich; (2 Cor 6:10) they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; (2 Cor 4:12) they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred. (Epistle to Diogentus, II-III c.)

For they know and trust in God, the Creator of heaven and of earth, in whom and from whom are all things, to whom there is no other god as companion, from whom they received laws which they engraved upon their minds and hearts and observe in hope and expectation of the world to come. Wherefore they do not commit adultery nor fornication, nor bear false witness, nor embezzle what is held in pledge, nor covet what is not theirs. They honour father and mother, and show kindness to those near to them; and whenever they are judges, they judge uprightly. They do not worship idols (made) in the image of man; and whatsoever they would not that others should do unto them, they do not to others; and of the food which is consecrated to idols they do not eat, for they are pure. And their oppressors they appease (lit: comfort) and make them their friends; they do good to their enemies; and their women, O King, are pure as virgins, and their daughters are modest; and their men keep themselves from every unlawful union and from all uncleanness, in the hope of a recompense to come in the other world. (Aristides, Apology, II c.)

4. Eucharist

In one of the first Christian texts, St. Justin the Martyr narrates how the Eucharist was celebrated during the ancient times.

And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place,

And the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then,

when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things.

Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying “Amen”; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons.

And this food is called among us Εὐχαριστία [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined.

For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.

For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, «This do in remembrance of Me, (Lk 22:19) this is My body;» and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, «This is My blood;» and gave it to them alone.

And we afterwards continually remind each other of these things. And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together; and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Spirit. (St. Justin the Martyr, Letter to Antoninus Pius, Emperor, 155 AD)

5. Christian dimension of work

The early Christians remembered the very testimony of Christ with their life of work since “Christ was in the habit of working as a carpenter when among men, making ploughs and yokes; by which He taught the symbols of righteousness and an active life.” (St. Justin the Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho)

The Christian message of work is that labor, as long as noble and good, acquires a new dimension in Christ (cfr. Ef. 6,7). The supernatural dimension of work is like a divine incentive that will surpass much the impact of social agreements, without violence nor rebellions. For the early Christians, work had a value of a distinct sign between the true believer and the false brother, as well as a delicate way to live charity in order to be just to his brother (cfr. Thes 5, 11). (cfr. Encyclopedia GER, Primeros Cristianos II, Espiritualidad)

On the other hand, we cannot forget that the early Christians were immersed in a world in which some aspects of work had become somewhat pejorative. “Because work was what determined the life of the slave, the well-known distinction between servile work and liberal work prevailed, first identifying the work itself, and second all activities that, in addition to culture, include leisure and the arts.” (J.Mullor, La Nueva Cristiandad, Madrid 1966, p.215).